Jorrel Hato made an excellent impression during Chelsea's hard-fought 2-0 win over Everton. The 20-year-old defender was not set to start for the Blues at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday afternoon, but Pep Chavarria suffered a minor knock in the build-up to the clash and subsequently pulled out.

Despite having been an unused substitute in each of Chelsea's last two Premier League games, Hato stepped up to the plate at late notice. The Netherlands international had lost his place in the starting lineup just before the international break when the Blues salvaged a disappointing draw against Hull City.

He was partially at fault for the visitors' equaliser in the first half, misjudging the flight of a cross into the box, and then hooked at the break. Although Hato had generally performed well in the games beforehand, providing two assists in just three outings at wing-back, he lost his place in Xabi Alonso's side.

When his colleague suddenly withdrew from the matchday squad at the weekend, rather than dwelling on the sour end to his previous appearance or crumbling under the pressure, the Dutchman showed his teeth and picked up the gauntlet.

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Hato combined excellently with Morgan Rogers to help give Chelsea the lead in Merseyside. While the Blues forward pinned Ainsley Maitland-Niles, using his strength to fend off the Everton defender and his technical prowess to bring down the long ball, he made an overlapping run.

Rogers noticed Hato had jumped on his bike, unleashing him down the wing with a perfectly-weighted back-heel. The Chelsea defender latched onto the pass and exploited the space behind the Toffees' backline before picking out Pedro Neto, unmarked at the back post.

In just his sixth appearance across all competitions this term, Hato recorded his third assist. Hato had otherwise done very well, winning each of his three ground duels, successfully completing each of his two dribbles, playing three passes into the final third, and recovering possession twice.

The versatile Chelsea defender passed his audition with flying colours, showing Alonso exactly what he can do. Hato was one of the very few players to consistently perform at a good level last season, but the arrival of Chavarria in the summer appears to have spurred him onto the next level in his development.

Speaking to club media at the weekend, the Dutchman revealed that he and his teammates had been working hard at Cobham recently to shut out games. Hato said: "That was one of our goals.

"Of course, we score a lot of goals, everyone knows this, but now we finally have our own clean sheet, and as a team it's good. We didn't give many chances away, or big chances, so that's solid, and we keep going.

"Now we have to go forward with it and keep as many clean sheets as we can. When we came back from the international break, everyone knew that we have a good team and we score a lot of goals, but defensively it had to be better.

"We had to do it, and I think we showed it against Bournemouth and again against Everton," added Hato, who then called on his teammates to 'keep going'.

"I think we started well after the break, and now it’s two games and two wins, so we have to keep going. There are a lot of games coming, and great games to play as well, so we have to keep going."

The healthy competition between Hato and Chavarria will only bring out the best in them...